Werlaburgdorf cemetery

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The cemetery of Werlaburgdorf is an early medieval cemetery in Werlaburgdorf in the Wolfenbüttel district in Lower Saxony , where people who died between the 8th and 10th centuries were buried. With 245 burials, the row grave field is one of the largest cemeteries of this period in the Braunschweiger Land .

description

The burial ground is located on a south-facing slope above the Warne valley and today's center of Werlaburgdorf. About two kilometers away is the royal palace Werla, which was first documented in 926 . The cemetery contained at least 245 burials, including 88 male, 71 female and 86 sexually indeterminate individuals. The cemetery was occupied in five phases, ranging from the second half of the 8th to the middle of the 10th century. Most of the burials took place in simple grave pits, most of which were laid out in an east-west direction. The skeletons lay stretched back in the graves with their heads facing west. In individual cases there were more elaborate grave structures, as indicated by tree and box coffins as well as death boards . In about 20–30% of the graves, disturbances are evidence of subsequent grave robbery .

Grave goods

The grave field is characterized by the lack of gifts. Only 57 graves had grave goods . These include brooches from the 9th century, including a dove brooch, a bow fibula , a Münzfibel and email disc fibel .

There were also metal objects such as belt buckles, knives, earrings and pearls.

A special addition were iron bar spikes that were originally attached to the tip of a wooden stick . They were found in three graves. The function of such bars is not yet known. It could have been a Schulzen staff as a badge of a dignitary.

Research history

Archaeological investigations on the burial ground were carried out through excavations in 1980 and 2004. While in 1980 it was only a small-scale uncovering before the construction of a single house, in 2004 there were several months of excavations on an area of ​​about 50 × 70 meters before the development of a new building area . The cemetery was not fully recorded.

Today there is an information board and a memorial stone at the site.

anthropology

The skeletons of the buried were unusually well preserved. Since the graves were sunk into the limestone rock, the limestone bound in the bones was not washed out and the bone material was preserved.

According to the anthropological studies carried out after the excavation, the 236 people buried, 44% of whom had not reached adulthood, were a rural population typical of the northern Harz foreland. The infant mortality up to age 13 years was 33%. The average life expectancy was 29 years for women and 31 years for men. Six percent of those buried reached a relatively old age at over 60. The men were 1.70 meters on average and the women 1.59 meters tall.

The poor health of the population could be recognized on the basis of deficiencies and signs of wear and tear. The people suffered from deficiency and infectious diseases as a result of periodic food shortages. Chronic otitis media and irritation of the meninges as well as vitamin deficiency and malnutrition could be proven.

It is estimated that the number of people living at the same time in the earlier settlement was around 60 people on around 10 farms.

meaning

The Werlaburgdorf cemetery, along with the Gevensleben and Remlingen cemeteries, is one of the best-studied early medieval cemeteries in the Braunschweig region .

Originally it was assumed that the buried belonged to the first generation of Christians and that Christianization in the area took place around 780 AD. More recent investigations on the cemetery of Gevensleben with a person who died in 695 show that the new Christian-Franconian burial custom had been practiced in the area almost 100 years earlier. The deceased were buried in body graves without graves, while they were previously cremated and buried in urns .

Grave goods in Werlaburgdorf indicate that Christian and pagan ideas were still connected at the time. This is evidence of the hesitant establishment of Christianity. It can be seen, for example, in a pagan bird fibula that carries a cross as a symbol of the Christian faith.

literature

  • Markus C. Blaich : The people of Werlaburgdorf. A contribution to the history of the northern Harz foreland in the 8th to 10th centuries (= Werla. 2 = Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum zu Mainz, RGZM, research institute for prehistory. Monographs. 114). Verlag des Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseums, Mainz 2013, ISBN 978-3-88467-224-2 .
  • Norms Posselt: Werlaburgdorf burial ground “Auf dem Steinberg”, Ldkr. Wolfenbüttel in: The burial ground of Gevensleben. People in the Braunschweiger Land between 750 and 1150 AD , (Guide to the prehistory and early history of Lower Saxony; Vol. 31), Isensee Verlag , 2018, p. 30
  • Silke Grefen-Peters: The people of Gevensleben and Werlaburgdorf in: The grave field of Gevensleben. People in the Braunschweig region between 750 and 1150 AD , pp. 31–36

Web links

Coordinates: 52 ° 3 ′ 9.4 ″  N , 10 ° 32 ′ 18.2 ″  E